354 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



July, 1912 



apple-blossom pink 

 with a rayed white 

 halo and crimson 

 centre. Except Ros- 

 enberg, Frau Antoine 

 Buchner,and Eclair- 

 eur,Berangerhas the 

 largest individual 

 flowers of any phlox 

 that I have seen, 

 though in no cata- 

 logue have I found 

 this phenomenal size 

 noted. MadamePaul 

 Dutrie comes very 

 close to Beranger in 

 color ; it is not, how- 

 ever, quite so clear a 

 pink, showing a faint 

 lilac hue These two 

 phloxes associate 

 charmingly. 



Of light pinks 

 there are several 

 from which choice 

 may be made, Selma 

 and Gruppenkonigin 

 being among the 

 best. L'Evenement, 

 a delicate pink tinted 

 salmon, and Pink 

 Beauty are also de- 

 sirable. A very fine 

 light salmon pink is 

 the new large- 

 flowered Elizabeth 

 Campbell, first of- 

 fered in this country, I believe, two years 

 ago. 



For those who prefer brighter shades 

 the pink varieties, Sunset, Ornament, the 

 beautiful new Rjinstrom, with blossoms 

 larger, to borrow catalogue phraseology, 

 "than a silver dollar," and the Van der 

 Schoot hybrids, Millet and Amos Perry, 

 will be sure to appeal. 



From pink to rose is only a step in color 

 gradation, and in this class are to be found 

 some of the showiest of all phloxes. Cre- 

 puscule, a large-flowered rose with crimson 

 centre is a remarkably beautiful phlox. 

 Fully as striking is the variety Paul Mar- 

 tin with its blending of rose and fiery gold. 

 Not so dazzling but equally beautiful is 

 Pantheon, closer to a true old rose than 

 to the carmine-rose, cerise and salmon 

 respectively of catalogue parlance. Another 

 soft old rose, with a white eye, is Caran 

 d'Ache, described, unfortunately, as ger- 

 anium-red with old rose shadings. No one, 

 however, who grows this variety will be 

 disappointed in its beauty. A new variety, 

 Jules Breton, is said to be "golden rose, 

 with a centre of pale rose-lilac," a most 

 alluring description, as to the accuracy 

 of which I am unable to bear witness, for 

 Jules Breton is one of my future (and, I 

 hope, near future) dreams. 



So many phloxes have been described 

 and sold as blue, to the great weakening 

 of one's faith in the veracity of the human 

 race, that the amateur needs to tread 

 warily. I have tried many of the "blues" 



Clumps of white perennial phlox will give a welcome effect of lightness and coolness in the summer garden 



offered, but have not found any of them 

 really blue, except Le Mahdi, which is 

 nearly the blue of an English violet — 

 with the all-important proviso, if the flower 

 is in the shade! In early evening, also, 

 Le Mahdi exhibits the same phenomenal 

 hue. When the sun strikes the blossoms, 

 though they still show a bluish tint, the 

 predominant color is a carmine-crimson. 

 Iris, listed as blue-violet and described, 

 in one foreign catalogue that I have seen, as 

 the best of all phloxes of this shade, proved 

 itself, in my garden, at least, a truly 

 magnificent deep, velvety violet-crimson, 

 with the crimson predominating. Javan- 

 aise and Merlin, both Lemoine hybrids, 

 show a purplish blue tint. 



Of the purples, Gypsy and King of the 

 Purples are noteworthy. Many of the 

 crimsons border on purple; a pure deep 

 crimson seeming, in phloxes, a difficult 

 shade to attain. 



Some of the foreign trade lists catalogue 

 the "wine-reds," Franklin and La Nuit, 

 and I find one American retail catalogue 

 offering Mont Rose, but, instead of a 

 "dark wine-red," Mont Rose opened, to 

 my disappointment, a beautiful deep rose. 

 In size of bloom and habit of growth, how- 

 ever, Mont Rose is notable. It appears 

 to be one of the most generally admired 

 phloxes in my garden. 



Carmines and " rosy magentas" are 

 difficult shades to harmonize even in the 

 most careful grouping, but if such colors 

 could be properly isolated from all others 



except white and 

 certain shades of 

 lavender, there are 

 phloxes of these dan- 

 gerous colors, pos- 

 sessed of great indi- 

 vidual beauty. One 

 of the finest of these 

 is Eclaireur, prob- 

 ably (if we except 

 Rosenberg) the lar- 

 gest-flowered phlox 

 existent — a rich 

 crimson -carmine 

 with a large rosy- 

 white, sometimes 

 pure white star. Ed- 

 mond Bossier, with 

 a little more of the 

 crimson than of the 

 carmine in its shad- 

 ing, and a very large 

 white centre, is also 

 desirable. Obergart- 

 ner Wittig, a rosy- 

 magenta with white 

 centre and carmine 

 eye, is deservedly 

 called one of the 

 " verybestphloxes, " 

 but, owing to its 

 peculiar shade, a bit 

 difficult to handle 

 artistically. I have 

 found that it asso- 

 ciates rather pleas- 

 antly with a deep 

 lilac-rose and a very pale rose containing a 

 hint of mauve. The three shades afford a 

 really charming color gradation, allowing 

 this truly beautiful phlox to appear at its 

 best. A missing label resulted in the 

 chance placing of a single plant of Ober- 

 gartner Wittig between Eclaireur and the 

 pale flesh (almost salmon) pink Gruppen- 

 konigin! Yet at its worst Obergartner 

 Wittig was not half so bad as it sounds. 



There seems just now to be a strong 

 interest in variegated and ringed types, 

 also clear whites with a contrasting centre, 

 usually carmine or crimson, though violet, 

 lilac-blue and rose-pink centres are also 

 seen. These phloxes are brilliantly showy 

 and many of them exceedingly beautiful. 



Of the white varieties with crimson centre, 

 Belle Alliance, Richard Wallace and Aglae 

 Adanson are excellent, but by far the best 

 is the striking Henry Murger, whose 

 immense white flowers have an exception- 

 ally large red centre. A white phlox with 

 a violet eye and a faint shading of porce- 

 lain blue is Distinction, rare but rather 

 insignificant, though the decided bluish 

 tint of the buds somewhat relieves the 

 washed-out appearance of the flowers. 

 A smaller-flowered variety of the same 

 general description, but with deeper flush- 

 ing and buds, is Wonder. Emerald, a mani- 

 fest misnomer, from the same source, is 

 by no means gre.en or even, like Rhein- 

 gau, green-eyed, but a beautiful French- 

 white with purple eye and deep lavender 

 buds. 



